Articles – Page 214

June 26, 2013

In the days when the American colonies were revolting, British soldiers were dressed in red, and all their actions were executed in unison. (At least, those actions concerned with military matters.) A rigid formation marched together, and, in combat, loaded, aimed, and fired their muskets as one. The musket had only a relatively short range, and a volley fired was aimed not at individuals but at the mass of the opposing forces. On the whole this worked well when facing another army. It was also an efficient way of deploying large numbers of men.

However the revolting … Read More → "Parallel Processing"

FinFEUD

Blood Battles in FPGA Marketing

by Kevin Morris

June 25, 2013

He eyed the horizon suspiciously as he leaned his shotgun against the porch railing and reclined into the wooden seat suspended on chains from the rafters. Things had been a bit too quiet lately, and quiet was never good. Those neighbors of his – he chuckled to himself at the irony of calling them “neighbors,” both because they were several miles apart (although on adjoining properties), and because there hadn’t been a kind word spoken between their clans for the best part of three decades – THOSE neighbors of his were up to something, and he aimed to … Read More → "FinFEUD"

Going Local

Local Interconnect Is New. Or Not…

by Bryon Moyer

June 24, 2013

It snuck up and hit me during a Virtuoso presentation earlier this year by Cadence. It was a reference to “local interconnect.” It was the first such reference I had seen.*

For years I’ve been thinking in terms of silicon structures connected by metal through vias and contact holes. Does this mean that a completely separate set of interconnect was snaking around underneath the metal, where prying eyes (or at least my eyes) can’t see? (Don’t worry… the NSA knows it’s there…)

That wasn’t even half the insult. Here came … Read More → "Going Local"

A Clean-By-Construction Deck

Sage Introduces a DRC Compiler

by Bryon Moyer

June 20, 2013

So you’ve spent many months on a chip design project that’s winding down. Layout is done, or at least you hope it’s done, and it’s time to make sure that you did it right. (Yes, I know… most designs today will involve many people doing different things, so the “you” here is intended to refer collectively to all of you.)

That means it’s time to run your design rule checks (DRCs). And as the computer hums away on your DRC deck (presumably so-called because at one time it was a deck of … Read More → "A Clean-By-Construction Deck"

Atmel Rushes to the Bottom

A Whole New Line of Cortex-M0+ MCUs Pads the Low End of the Catalog

by Jim Turley

June 19, 2013

Remember Luminary Micro’s tagline about offering “32 bits for a buck”? Well, Atmel is now doing approximately the same thing. The company has just launched a whole family of low-end ARM-based microcontrollers with prices starting right around $1 in modest volumes.

Atmel has been in the ARM-based MCU business for quite a while, but this is the first time the company has made really low-end parts. Heretofore, the low end of Atmel’s product line used Cortex-M3 cores. Now the company has jumped two rungs down the ARM architecture ladder, to the very bottom: Cortex-M0+.

< … Read More →

Building a Bigger Better Igloo

Microsemi Goes Mainstream

by Kevin Morris

June 18, 2013

Microsemi’s FPGAs – going all the way back to the Actel days – had some interesting and compelling features and advantages. Because their logic fabric was created in flash, they could do certain things that “normal” SRAM-based FPGAs could not. They had very low power consumption, with almost no leakage. They were non-volatile, so you weren’t required to build extra configuration circuitry into your design. They were more immune than others to radiation effects such as single-event-upsets. And, they were comparatively secure – since one could eliminate the vulnerability of bitstream configuration from the final design.

More Touch

Metal and Ink

by Bryon Moyer

June 17, 2013

If there’s any pervasive theme that’s come out of our obsession with phones and tablets in recent years, it’s that everyone must want touch technology on everything. (Which, ironically, rules out touch typing unless supplemented with a real keyboard.) We’ve looked at the fundamental technologies before, from the basic to the imaginative, but it’s not stopping there. There are plenty of folks trying to push beyond the … Read More → "More Touch"

Pieces of the Internet of Things

Ayla Networks Launches Kit

by Bryon Moyer

June 13, 2013

A few years ago I was meeting with a small wireless interconnect company called ZeroG Wireless, and the discussion included a vision of machines and devices and appliances and people interacting via this huge, messy, chaotic structure we refer to as the internet. And all of the vagaries and un-thought-through possibilities and the promise of things as-yet unimagined were neatly wrapped up in a succinct little phrase: the Internet of Things.

I loved how descriptive the term was; I hadn’t heard it before then, and it was a long time before I really heard it again, … Read More → "Pieces of the Internet of Things"

Vogon Poetry

The Worst Possible Choice, Except For All The Others

by Jim Turley

June 12, 2013

Douglas Adams tells us in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that the Vogons have the third-worst poetry in the galaxy. Thankfully, he never describes the first two. Here on this planet, we’re presented with all kinds of choices, some better than others. This is a busy week for conferences, trade shows, and press announcements, so grab a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and let’s get started.

Another week, another new ARM core. Say hello to the Cortex-A12, ARM’s “highest performance mid-range mobile processing solution designed for mobile applications.” As you might have … Read More → "Vogon Poetry"

The Next-Node Battle Begins

Altera Announces “Generation 10”

by Kevin Morris

June 11, 2013

It’s time! Grab your popcorn and settle in for the ride, FPGA fans. The biennial spectacular has just begun. The first gladiator has entered the arena, waved to the crowd, and lifted his weapons. We are about to witness the technological battle of the century in programmable logic.

Every two years, the two big FPGA vendors play a high-stakes game of “chicken” to see who is first to announce their plans for the next semiconductor technology node. At … Read More → "The Next-Node Battle Begins"